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Music Teacher Tim wrote: ↑Wed Mar 29, 2023 11:35 am OP here. All good points I am absorbing. You know, some of the stuff I've read implies that with original medicare and a medigap supplement, you basically have no problems (except paying the premium!!). I don't mind paying more upfront if I can avoid all, or most, problems later should I get really sick. I would just hate to go the original route, rather than the advantage route, then have to deal with problems later like rejected claims, etc.

Do understand that you would be much more likely to need pre-authorizations with a Medicare Advantage plan than with original Medicare + a medigap/supplement. There are a number of previous discussions on BH that delve into the differences and decision points of advantage vs medigap.

The forum for one of the brands of RVs we've owned.

There have been several recent reports of this. Here's another one from this week

Vanguard Weirdness

Definitely get ahold of VG CS and attempt to get it corrected.

FSKAX. Be careful with the zero funds - not recommended for a taxable account because they are proprietary/non-transferable and would have to be sold if you wanted to move to a different brokerage.

HomeStretch wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:58 am Going forward, consider taking screenshots of brokerage transactions just in case.

A few years ago, Vanguard had issues with trade confirmations incorrectly using average cost rather than specific ID. I was affected. Luckily I screenshot all brokerage transactions entered so it was easy to prove their error and have Vanguard correct the issue (not all posters were so lucky).

The wrong cost basis situation has happened in recent months as well. Note this post with some additional issues regarding lot purchase dates: viewtopic.php?t=400218

Our vote is for a Deere lawn tractor, but not one from a big box store. Buy from a Deere dealer or look for a gently used model carried by same.

The LX172 we bought in 1991 is still going strong for the folks who bought a previous home of ours and negotiated the inclusion of that lawn tractor.

We now have an x570 because we have 1.5 acres of mowable area with some decent slope in the back. It tows our cart and the weighted plug aerator easily.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I got quite excited hearing him speak and looked at the adverts and saw that there's a used Laika Ecovip 4.1 motorhome for sale in the region we staying at the moment (in Europe). So any tips, comments, suggestions etc both on the subject of living and travelling in a motorhome and on the particular model I mentioned (nor sure if it's used in the US too) would be very welcome. Laika appears to be an Italian brand. You won't find them in the US unless someone imported one for their personal use. You definitely would be challenged to find parts for the house section and it's on a Fiat chassis, so probably an issue finding chassis service. Definitely rent first. Consider doing some research on iRV2 . Their fo...

Herbed lamb shanks (which then had the meat removed from the bone and shredded), buttered noodles, peas with tarragon butter. It's a favorite cold weather comfort dish for us. I make a quad batch (1 shank makes a meal for 2), then freeze the leftover lamb for future meals.

Jade A.B. wrote: ↑Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:59 pm Yes, it wasn't the best idea to have moved so much into cash, , but we had a bid that fell through. And some taxable cash went into fixing up our current home for sale.

If you are selling the current home, is the pull from the IRA solely or mostly to cover you until it sells and you get the $ from the sale? If so, definitely consider a bridge/gap loan.

berg wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:30 pm I have some lumpy income in the form of stock sales I paid estimated taxes on, but I also had $182k in bargain element triggered AMT from an exercise in January. I'm thinking given that, it probably might end up that I underpaid even further vs. making it even throughout the year.

MrJedi wrote: ↑Fri Mar 17, 2023 9:58 am I agree if most of your income was in the first quarter, then the AI method might make it an even worse underpayment.

I agree with both assessments given the January placement of the income. Schedule AI is generally worthwhile if your lumpy income is towards the end of the year (particularly when it's year end cap gains and dividends).

11 days for Federal (3/4 file, 3/15 deposit in account). No state tax.

It also depends on the age of the filter. After 3-5 years you risk adhesive break down of the filter media itself. Failed media can result in "dusting" of the engine.

The recent fracas with bank failures has made me wonder about the following. Some of my assets are held by “X wealth management,” where X is a small bank (it has publicly traded stock,and a market cap and other characteristics that would put it in the small value index). The assets there are largely there for reasons of history (this is money that was invested when I lived in my old home town mixed with inheritances that were held at X). They do charge a fee but most of my assets are indexed (sans advisors) and I’m not worried about that here. While they may be index investments (as opposed to active ones), are you positive you're not paying AUM fees based on the entire account balance and not just the portion that is in actively-managed h...

jeffyscott wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:53 pm I'm pretty sure that you can't buy a Vanguard money market fund at Fidelity (or vice versa).

Specific to OP's question, you can't purchase VMRXX at Fidelity. If you search Fidelity's site, that symbol just brings up the quote with no other research data. Clicking on "Research" on the fund's quote page, you get the error message:

Mutual Fund Symbol is Not Valid

The symbol you're interested in is either not a valid Mutual Fund or is a fund that's not available on Fidelity.com.

That indicates you can't purchase VMRXX at Fidelity (not even by paying a transaction fee).

Thanks to the Bogleheads who pointed out the Finance Buff article on the subject, I ran our 2022 situation through the Personal Financial Toolbox (aka MDM spreadsheet) and was able to better understand the impact of Roth conversion vs. ACA Premium Tax Credit. I took it further and looked at what happened with RPM (the Retiree Portfolio Model spreadsheet) looking forward. Keeping Roth conversion amounts s/t we didn't bump into IRMAA, my projected estimate for total PTC between now and first partner Medicare (3 1/2 years) was close enough to the net final portfolio benefit from doing Roth conversions that it didn't make sense to do Roth conversions. Now, we don't have an heir's tax bracket to be concerned about, but using those two (free) too...

Temu items primarily ship from overseas (generally China) and any product returns generally have to be shipped back overseas. It's basically an aggregator for Chinese vendors to sell direct to US customers. Wish is a similar aggregator. Neither have a good reputation for product quality/authenticity, on-time shipping, or returns process based on the hobby/craft forums I belong to.

I'm continuing to struggle with how to pay the nursing home now that my BIL is on Medicaid. Unfortunately, my lawyer focused only on getting him in Medicaid. There was no discussion of the ongoing rules and suggestions on how to handle. I now see that Medicaid in MD requires his checking account to have no more than $2,500 at the end of each month. I was expecting the process to have a true-up mechanism every 6 or 12 months, similar to paying your taxes. From my experience with NYS, there is an annual re-certification application. I got roughly 1 month's notice for this. I was required to submit the application, plus the most recent tax returns, all 1099s, most recent bank and investment account (IRA) statements, pre-paid funeral arrangeme...

Revisiting this topic to add to my prior comments. Our first State/AO Smith HPWH failed around the 2 year mark. Its replacement just failed at the 15 month mark. Identical failures - ECC meaning heat pump compressor failure. This will involve replacing the entire unit as did the last one. Pickup and disposal, plus installation cost on our dime.

Well, this has not gone well. But it's on the mend now. Two issues and a tip: i - Vanguard reps have verified that clicking any of the "Transition this account" buttons on the website will transition ALL registered accounts. ii - but a tip is to create the Brokerage account first, at which point you can then port over any of your accounts as desired, just "check" the right boxes. VG informed us that for those with an existing brokerage account, we would have to call in to transition an existing MF account and have it directed into the existing brokerage. Transitioning online would create a second brokerage account. Perhaps the person you talked to meant you could possibly do an in-kind transfer online between the 2 brok...

Welcome BellaBear,

Your sense is correct - there is more to it, especially if you have any unrealized capital gains. Selling investments that have gains can incur income taxes.

You might want to post details using the template in this topic Asking Portfolio Questions

Spouse had one. Investment options were slashed after a couple of years to really poor selections. Then company structure changed and DCP was eliminated and entire balance was paid out as a lump sum. Huge tax bill. We never ran the numbers, but doubt it actually resulted in any benefit by deferring.

[Topic is now in Personal Consumer Issues (replace vehicle or not) - mod mkc]

I listened to the podcast today - great information and I particularly appreciated Rick's reminder to be cautious doing conversions, etc., if an early retiree/pre-Medicare age and their impact on ACA premium tax credits.

One thing I might suggest. A lot of people are under the impression that you can switch back and forth between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Likewise, people assume that they can switch Medigap policy carriers if something better comes along. The interview here was very good with explanations and addressed some of these issues nicely although you had to be clued into the nuances (like the birthday rule). It might be interesting to explain a little more about the underwriting process for Medigap plans. There still is an awful lot of chatter about going from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare if it turns out to be beneficial for medical needs. While this is technically true, you may not be able to get a Medigap plan dependin...

[Topic is now in Personal Consumer Issues (car rental). mod mkc]

[Topic is now in Personal Consumer Issues (snow bird living/traveling). Thank you to the member who reported it and explained what was wrong. mod mkc]

WoodBooger55 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:08 am
I'm looking to balance this out in a 3 fund of:

FXNAX(Bonds)
FZROX(USA Stocks)
FZILX(Intl Stocks)

What would the Bogelheads suggest?

Jack FFR1846 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:16 am In tax advantaged accounts, your choices are good.

For any taxable, stick with tax efficient funds like simply VTI, SCHB, iTOT and the like.

Reiterating what Jack FFR1846 says to add that the Fidelity Zero funds aren't recommended for a taxable account since they aren't portable. You'd be forced to liquidate (a likely taxable event) if you changed brokerages. Much better to use ETFs or at least FSKAX for US Total Market and FTIHX for International.

I've seen it a few ways and am confused. For our current home, it's around 1900 square feet, but that's the main level only. The lower level, a walkout, is probably 85% finished. Then I see Zillow homes that are 3000 square feet but see where it states that there's around 1700 on the main level and another 1300 finished below. I thought, from reading, that any square footage below the main level is not taken into square footage calculations, even if finished. On Zillow, if it's a house on the market, the square footage is pulled from the MLS listing, which is completed by the realtor. In most cases, you will see a disclaimer "all measurements to be verified by buyer". There is no requirement for the MLS listing to have accurate S...

[Topic is now in Personal Finance (HSA question). Thank you to the member who reported it and explained what was wrong. mod mkc]

[Topic is now in Personal Finance (tax form question). Thank you to the member who reported it and explained what was wrong. mod mkc]

Thanks again everyone! Just a quick amendment. I spoke with my MIL this morning for a few minutes. It’s a 35k offer, it was from some investment company in Las Vegas. it didn’t even have the town, just the county the land is in. We get such things all the time for a parcel we own. These companies just go through the tax rolls looking for vacant parcels and send letters hoping to find someone wanting to simply get rid of the land. I would proceed with caution on any out-of-state investment company's unsolicited offer. The ones we get are typically for less than 30% (and most often less than 15%) of what the land is worth. The advice to contact a couple of realtors in the land's area who have sold other parcels in the recent past is wise. I ...

You're correct that a 30" wall oven is MUCH more common than a 36". Is there a reason you need a 36"? Replacing existing? Any way to reconfigure to 30"?

Kucht is not a well-known brand. Appears to be a newcomer to the appliance marketplace and selling primarily at big box stores. You might want to research it over on Houzz's Appliances board. I'm seeing some "not good" reviews of their ranges.

[RobLyons' topic merged with this existing one. Posts that were a circular reference to this one after the merge were removed to avoid confusion. Thank you to the member who reported the issue and provided a link to this topic. mod mkc]

[Topic is now in Personal Finance (tax preparation error/question). Thank you to the member who reported it and explained what was wrong. mod mkc]

FromAto401k wrote: ↑Sat Feb 25, 2023 2:29 pm I know the general philosophy of this site is that investing should be kept simple, and there is no need to give away 1% to an advisor; but I’m curious if anyone has retained an advisor anyway because they find the value of the 1% is worth it for…extra gains? Non-allocation advice, etc?

Definitely not. Having seen what EJ, MS, and ML "advisors" did to family members' accounts, not only did that 1% create a drag on the portfolio (which will eat up about 30% of potential growth over 25 years), the investments they were put in did significantly worse than a simple 3-fund portfolio (and the asset allocations were much to equity-heavy for their risk tolerances).

"Advisors" have no magic sauce...

Par for the course with ML Wealth Management. Their churn cost a family member significant IRMAA surcharges for several years. They also had a 92 year old in a 95/5 asset allocation. Don't forget the 1.4% AUM fee. The sooner you exit their clutches the better.

I have mostly All Clad cookware, bought mostly from their seconds sale online. I also have a couple of Demeyere ones. If I were to do it all over again, I'd choose Demeyere over All Clad. It's so much easier to handle as well as to clean. Which Demeyere line(s) do you have? I'm guessing it's one with the Silvinox treatment? I checked, it's 5-Plus, you're correct with Silvinox finish. Is that why it's easier to clean? I think all their lines have Silvinox finish. Silvinox is supposed to be easier to clean, although they aren't forthcoming with exactly what it is. Demeyere states that it's an electrochemical that removes certain elements, including iron and impurities from the surface layer of the stainless. It's likely electropolishing.

homebuyer6426 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 12:09 pm It's one of those things that puts volatile chemicals in the air

Spray foam is done by mixing 2 chemicals at the time of application. It's a balance and a skill to get them in the right mixture, and there are still going to be unreacted volatile components. The 24-72 hours is to allow those to dissipate.

Topic is now in Personal Consumer Issues - mod mkc

neatp,

I merged your new topic here. It's best to keep the discussion in a single topic. Thank you to the member who reported it and provided a link to this thread.

mod mkc

Topic is now in Personal Consumer Issues (furnace options). Thank you to the member who reported it and explained what was wrong - mod mkc

The usual purpose of an inspection clause is two-fold. One to let you back out if there's something seriously amiss and two to negotiate the original price or a credit at closing for defects found during the inspection. If you ask for every little thing on the inspector's report, your chances of success are low. If you ask for the $8k for a heat pump that's not performing properly, that sounds reasonable. Your realtor, who doesn't get paid unless he/she closes the deal, is indicating it is appropriate in this case to ask and does not appear to feel it would jeopardize the sale. Keep in mind the seller may come back and offer to have the unit serviced instead. Not knowing the total cost of what's in the inspector's report, it's hard to say i...

BigDaddyRich wrote: ↑Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:23 pm I'm considering purchasing a whole life policy to (supposedly) help cover final funeral expenses for my wife and I, and (hopefully) build cash value. Would any one of these be a good idea?

Short answer - no

Long answer - listen to Stinky (review his posts and you'll understand why) and everyone else pointing out what a bad horrible choice these are for almost everyone.

Thus far, for one inherited in 2020, no. That said, the RMD situation for post-2020-inherited non-spousal IRAs has not been entirely finalized.

Either way, VG will not calculate anything for me, nor will they allow me to take automatic distributions. I have to do this manually.

There would be some advantage to consolidating some, particularly to manage the investments. Since you would have had to open inherited IRAs at Schwab, Fidelity, and Merrill Lynch, consider consolidating those at Schwab or Fidelity, if possible. If you have a reasonably close branch office for either, that may be worth considering. Both are highly regarded on the forum I would then consider getting the brokerage account out from under the hands of ML, where you will likely pay 1.4% AUM fees, experience a lot of churn, etc. (had that experience with a family member's account, where the asset allocation was also completely inappropriate for the client's risk profile). I would consider either eTrade, since you already have an account there,or...

We have had a HPWH for 4 years now, new construction.

Pro's -

energy efficiency

dehumidification of encapsulated crawl space


Con's -

HP portion is not serviceable, per State/AO Smith. Ours failed after 2 years. Entire water heater replaced under warranty but we had to pick it up and pay for installation and handle disposal ourselves.

Noise and long run time to recover. The latter is part of its efficiency, but be aware

Hybrid/emergency electric mode shuts off after 48 hours. When ours failed and we were waiting for replacement and plumber, it was "tuck, drop, and roll" across the crawlspace floor to reset it


Bottom line, we like the utility cost savings, but question long term reliability.

Looks like the lifetime warranty is just the tank part (highly unlikely to develop a leak). The other bits - heating element, controls, etc. have a separate warranty duration. Per the warranty/manual on the HD link With receipt - 6 years Without receipt or not original owner - 1 year No documentation of original date of installation - 90 days from when the water heater was manufactured. Labor not included, and n.b. the following: LABOR, SHIPPING, AND PROCESSING COSTS This Limited Warranty does not cover any labor expenses for service, repairs, reinstallation, permits, or removal and disposal of the failed water heater, or defective component part(s). All such expenses are your responsibility. Rheem Sales Co. Inc. will pay the transportation...

furikake wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 1:35 pm I have mostly All Clad cookware, bought mostly from their seconds sale online. I also have a couple of Demeyere ones. If I were to do it all over again, I'd choose Demeyere over All Clad. It's so much easier to handle as well as to clean.

Which Demeyere line(s) do you have? I'm guessing it's one with the Silvinox treatment?